National News

Dangerous beauty: Incredible time-lapse footage of supercell storms

More than any special effect Hollywood might dream up, Mother Nature possesses an overwhelming power to stun. Her magic is on full display in several time-lapse videos of supercell storms over Nebraska and Wyoming that are sweeping their way across the Web.

The video above was shot near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on Sunday. The footage of clouds converging and spinning across a seemingly angry sky was captured by Victor Gensini and uploaded to the internet.

As spectacular as the Nebraska footage is, a clip of a supercell storm over Wyoming may be even more magnificent. Reportedly also shot by a group of storm chasers over the weekend, the footage captures a truly terrifying supercell hovering and raging, looking a bit like an alien mothership here to destroy the planet.

A supercell is a type of isolated thunderstorm that also contains "a deep and persistent rotating updraft called a mesocyclone," according to the National Weather Service. The storms usually last for several hours, and are most common in the central United States.